Effects of Dietary Control, Exercise and Anti-Obesity Prescriptions on Weight Loss: An Interview-Based Study.
Obesity epidemic in Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) is one of the highest worldwide. Moreover, in the year 2016 the World Health Organization reported a global incidence of more than 1.9 billion adults were overweight and of these over 650 million were obese. While in 2015, global burden of disease study group explored the global health data among the 20 most populated countries, they observed highest level of adult obesity in Egypt (35.3%).
Obesity is a disease characterized by increased accumulation of body fat, the cause is not always attributable to overconsumption of calories or lack of physical activity. Obese subjects often encounter impaired metabolic pathways along with disturbed signaling for hunger and satiety. Anti-obesity prescriptions counted as lifestyle modification adjunct to enhance initiation and continuance of weight loss in obese subjects with BMI above 30 kg/m2 or for those with a BMI above 27 kg/m2 when comorbidities exist.
Mediterranean diet followed was a hypocaloric regimen with low-carbohydrate less than 50% and low-fat content 30% mostly obtained from olive oil; limited amounts of dairy products and meat, with a considerable contribution of fruits and vegetables as lentils and beans.
The main cause of weight gain as reported by, 44.3% of participants (992) was due to dietary habits that started early in childhood, while 29.2% claimed presence of a genetic factor (594 participant); they declared a positive family history of obesity. On the other hand, 26.5% of participants (654) reported that the weight gain was due to life-stresses.
Obes Res Open J.2018; 5(1): 11-17. doi: 10.17140/OROJ-5-135
